Helena Chmura Kraemer

Publication Details

• Weight concerns influence the development of eating disorders: a 4-year prospective study.

  Killen JD, Taylor CB, Hayward C, Haydel KF, Wilson DM, Hammer L, Kraemer H, Blair-Greiner A, Strachowski D. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1996; 64 (5): 936-40

  The authors examined factors prospectively associated with age of onset of partial syndrome eating disorders over a 4-year interval in a community sample (N = 877) of high school-age adolescent girls. Four percent developed a partial syndrome eating disorder over the interval. A measure of weight concerns was significantly associated with onset in a multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis (p < .001). Girls scoring in the highest quartile on the measure of weight concerns had the highest incidence (10%) of partial syndrome onset, whereas none of the girls in the lowest quartile developed eating disorder symptoms. This finding is consistent with both theoretical and clinical perspectives and may represent a useful step toward the establishment of a rational basis for the choice of a prevention intervention target.

  PubMedID: 8916622